Sports teams honored at June board of education meeting
Page 4 • Wednesday, June 12, 2019 • The Hammonton Gazette
by Franki Rudnesky
G azette S taFF W riter
HaMMONtON—During the regular
meeting of the Hammonton Board of edu-
cation on June 6, many matters were voted
upon and Hammonton High School (HHS)
sports teams were recognized.
the meeting was called to order by board
president Sam Mento iii, who welcomed
HHS principal thomas ramsay to introduce
a presentation acknowledging the accom-
plishments of many HHS athletes through-
out the 2018-2019 school year.
“Hammonton High School has a rich tra-
dition of academic and athletic excellence.
as the principal of the high school i always
relish the opportunity to recognize the out-
standing achievements of our students… ex-
tracurricular activities are extremely
important to the educational process, and we
certainly learn many valuable lessons while
competing,” ramsay said.
He then handed the microphone over to
Dave Mauriello, the HHS wrestling coach,
to present some of the top HHS athletes with
award certificates. after the awards had been
distributed, several HHS coaches that were
in attendance, including the coaches of girls
tennis, track, golf and wrestling, took the
podium to discuss their teams’ achievements
throughout the school year and recognize
their athletes for their hard work.
Mento also congratulated both coaches
and student athletes on their success.
“to all the coaches, i want to thank you
for your commitment and dedication, and i
would like to congratulate all the student ath-
letes here this evening. i really felt a strong
feeling of happiness when i heard about our
golf team. We found ourselves not too long
ago in a situation where we didn’t have the
money to fund a golf team… to see where
we are in just three years is fantastic. and,
also, the track team, we have the most ath-
letes ever going to the Meet of Champions…
Hammonton kids are the best; they’re tough
and they’re coachable. You’ve just got to
give them a chance,” Mento said.
at this time, Mento called for a brief re-
cess and when the meeting resumed, com-
mittee reports were given.
First, Mento gave his own committee re-
port. He congratulated HHS class of 2019
for their impending graduation and also con-
gratulated newly hired district employees for
the 2019-2020 school year. according to
Mento, the district is looking to hire bus
drivers.
He then mentioned improvements that
will be worked on over the summer.
“For those of you who are not aware, the
town and school worked together to receive
a grant for just over half a million dollars.
this money is to fund directly improvements
to infrastructure; the sidewalk, curbing and
roads around the school district… Last
month we approved a traffic study to see
what is the best way to go out of the road to
excellence… i’m looking forward to work-
ing with the town. it’s really wonderful to
see what we can do as a community,” Mento
said.
Other board members then gave their
committee reports, which included updates
on the ongoing traffic study, summer tree
projects and the recent installation of the rain
gardens at HHS. the board members con-
gratulated the athletes that were honored and
commended graduating HHS seniors.
they also acknowledged that HHS class
of 2014 graduate L.t. Struble was recently
drafted by the New York Mets.
“this is a tremendous feat for Hammon-
ton athletics,” board vice president thomas
attanasi said.
after committee reports, the first opportu-
nity for public comment was given at which
time HHS teacher anthony angelozzi took
the podium to introduce himself as the new
Hammonton education association (Hea)
president and discuss his goals for his new
role along with his background that consists
of 11 years of teaching at HHS.
“My hope is that the board of education
and Hea will continue to have an open line
of communication so we can solve issues to-
gether in the current educational environ-
ment,” angelozzi said.
the meeting then moved onto voting. in
reference to matters of finance, the board
most notably resolved to:
• ratify the purchase order lists for april
and May 2019 in the amount of
$473,393.01.
• approve the bill list for June 2019 in the
amount of $883,019.35.
• ratify the check lists for May 2019 in
the amount of $830,171.01.
• ratify the May 2019 payroll in the
amount of $3,240,361.39.
• approve to transfer unspent appropria-
tions and unanticipated revenue up to the
amount of $800,000 to the maintenance re-
serve and to return any unspent project
funds.
• approve an extraordinary Unspecifiable
Contract with rX alliance and Benecard
Services, inc. for employee prescription in-
surance benefits with Hardenbergh insur-
ance Group as Broker of record, effective
July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. the em-
ployee shall contribute to the cost of the plan
as required by law.
• approve the following changes made to
the Hammonton Board of education Pur-
chasing Manual, which is for review in the
Business Office: all dates containing 2018-
2019 were changed to 2019-2020; Updated
Ryan returning to district as Supervisor of Student Personnel Services
SCHOOL, from Page 1
Hammonton School District in
September 1987 as a science
teacher in the high school, moved
to guidance in 1996 and in 2005,
he became supervisor of guidance.
“i am looking forward to going
back and working with the stu-
dents, parents, teachers and the
administration,” ryan said.
it was previously announced at
a prior board meeting, that Carey
Speziali who took over ryan’s po-
sition will be leaving the district
in July.
ryan was charged with lewd-
ness in 2015 and convicted of the
charge in 2016. On November 14,
2016, Judge rosenberger found
ryan guilty of an act of Lewdness
on September 11, 2015, sentenc-
ing him to one year of probation,
and $664 in fines and fees, 2017
atlantic County Prosecutor’s Of-
fice press release reads. ryan ap-
pealed the conviction to Superior
Court on December 2, 2016, ac-
cording to the release. On thurs-
day, May 18, 2017, Judge taylor
denied ryan’s appeal of the Mu-
nicipal Court’s conviction, finding
that “the State has proved beyond
a reasonable doubt that the Defen-
dant is guilty of lewdness,” ac-
cording to the release from 2017.
On November 30, 2018 a letter
from atlantic County assistant
Prosecutor Kathleen e. robinson
was sent to absecon Municipal
Court Judge John H. rosenberger
regarding the State v. Michael P.
ryan. Charges against ryan were
dismissed.
“Upon further review of the
above captioned matter the State
has declined to continue the pros-
ecution of defendant ryan. at-
tached please find the complaint
summons
2015-000398-0113
which has been marked ‘dis-
missed’ as of the present date,”
robinson’s letter reads.
according to ryan, the convic-
tion was reversed and vacated on
March 14 and ryan’s case was re-
manded to absecon for a new
trial. the charge was dismissed
November 30, less than a week
before the new trial was scheduled
to begin, ryan said.
See bOARD, Page 16
ryan was a Hammonton School
District employee. His employ-
ment ended when he was con-
victed, according to the board.
“Michael ryan was suspended
from the district when charged
and upon conviction, he was dis-
qualified for employment by the
state Department of education
and his employment with the dis-
trict was terminated,” Hammon-
ton Board of education President
Sam Mento iii said in May 2017.
Franki Rudnesky contributed to
this report.